Jay Adams Model Z-Flex skateboard

This blue fiberglass, Z-Flex skateboard is signed on the bottom by Anthony Jabin, the current owner of the Z-Flex company. Z-Flex Skateboards, founded in 1976, has a storied history and it begins with Jay Adams and the Z-Boys of Dogtown. Jay Adams was a surfer on the Zephyr surf team which was based out of Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions, created by Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom and Craig Stecyk. In 1975, the second wave of skateboarding was well under way and when the Z-Boys heard about the Bahne-Cadillac Del Mar Nationals skateboard contest, they switched to skating. Adams brought the fluid and assertive moves of a surfer to the sport of skateboarding and became one of the original innovators of the sport. The Z-Boys became known for their aggressive style of skating which contrasted wildly from the freestyle moves of the 1960s skate scene. It helped that the new urethane wheels made skating smoother and the California drought emptied swimming pools across southern California. Adam’s was one of the true pioneers of “pool” skating which would usher in a new generation of skating. Once the Z-Boys were firmly established in the skateboarding scene the Zephyr owners approached Adam’s stepdad, Kent Sherwood to produce a new kind of skateboard. Sherwood worked with fiberglass in Dave Sweet’s Surf Shop and was more than willing to take on the challenge. After six months, problems arose and Sherwood took Adam’s and a few of the other Z-Boys and founded EZ-Ryder Skateboards. Within six months the name was changed to Z-Flex and the company has been an innovator ever since. They were the first to use a concave on the board’s topside and developed a smoother type of wheel which most of the modern wheels of today are based.

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